1. Field
This invention is in the field of basketball safety return apparatuses.
2. Background of the Invention
Safety of children and adults is an extremely important goal for society. Recreation is also an important activity in American life. This invention provides a measure of safety when using a driveway as a basketball court. This invention provides netting around a basketball goal in order to help prevent a basketball from rolling into a street during a recreational basketball game. This netting connected to poles and arranged such that at least one section of netting is positioned to form a barrier across a driveway to help prevent a basketball from rolling into the street and other sections of netting positioned to help prevent the basketball from wandering into a neighbor""s yard and to eliminate the need the chase a basketball for great distances for retrieval. This netting can be attached to and supported by vertical poles or can be arranged such that the netting can be attached to and supported by the basketball goal post itself. Further, adjacent sections of netting can be sewn together by pieces of cloth which act as sleeves which would fit over the vertical support poles.
3. State of the Art
Keehn, U.S. Pat. No. 5,402,999, provides similar protection. However, Keehn only provides for netting which is approximately the same height of the basketball goal. In this invention, the netting only need to be about half the height of the netting as required in Keehn, thereby saving great amounts of material costs for a consumer.
Further, in Keehn, the patent only provides for netting to be supported by and connected to vertical support poles only. In this invention, the basketball goal itself can be used to connect sections of netting, thereby eliminating the need for an extra vertical support pole.
Still further, Keehn provides that sections of netting be connected to each other by connecting said sections of netting to the vertical support poles by fasteners. Whereas, in this invention, sections of netting can be connected to two rectangular pieces of cloth which, in turn, act as sleeves which fit over the vertical support poles to ease the task of assembling the netting and vertical support poles.
Ellis, U.S. Pat. No. 5,816,956, simply a net support structure, comprises a tubular frame, tensioning cord, and netting. of the positions of the corners of bumpers when driving or parking a vehicle.
Hudson, U.S. Pat. No. 5,730,666, is a portable screen connected to poles.
Robl, U.S. Pat. No. 5,326,109, is a portable net holding assembly for volley ball.
Brower, U.S. Pat. No. 5,190,143, is a portable sport boundary fence comprising tubular posts, bases to anchor posts, and netting for establishing temporary boundaries for sporting events.
Lin, U.S. Pat. No. 4,948,149, applies portable net posts for connecting netting for ball games. The posts are comprised of pipes of various diameters.
Daly, U.S. Pat. No. 4,948,150, is a volleyball practice comprising a means for holding a volley ball system net holding assembly for volley ball.
Redlich, U.S. Pat. 5,664,784, is a rebound net system for sport balls comprising essentially a netting that fits over a garage door opening the net to prevent basketballs from going into the garage.
Lee, U.S. Pat. No. 5,492,319, is an indoor chip shot practice device comprising a frame and netting.
Sudinsky, U.S. Pat. No. 5,664,769, is a swimming pool and spa tensioned protective fence with auto likable gate comprising.
Walker, U.S. Pat. No. 4,941,663, is a tennis service catching net comprising a tennis net, and a tennis ball catching net held by tubular supports.
It is believed that there exist products having netting which stretch across driveways. It is not believed that such devices are patented.
However, none of the prior art provides a safety apparatus in conjunction with a basketball goal post in proximity to a driveway to prevent a basketball from rolling into the street which provides for variable height vertical poles, netting which can be attached to the goal post itself, and sleeves which connect sections of netting and which fit over the vertical poles.
The primary object of this invention is to provide a safe measure when utilizing a basketball goal in conjunction with a driveway which leads to a street.
Another object of this invention is to eliminate the need for excess netting necessary to provide safety when using a basketball goal in conjunction with a driveway and to eliminate the need for additional vertical support poles.
Another object of this invention is to prevent a basketball from going into a neighbor""s yard in order to prevent destruction of a neighbor""s flowers, shrubbery, or lawn.
Another object of this invention is to provide a means to contain the basketball within the playing area and to eliminate the need the chase a basketball for great distances for retrieval.
Still another object of this invention is to make assembly and disassembly easy, even for a young child.
In the preferred embodiment, three sections of netting surround a basketball goal post; two sections serve as a backdrop behind the basketball goal post, and one section forms a barrier across a driveway leading to a street. In this preferred embodiment, three vertical poles and the basketball goal post support and connect the three sections of netting; the basketball goal post itself provides the other necessary connection. In an alternate embodiment, an additional vertical pole is provided in order to locate the netting further behind the basketball goal post to support and connect the netting.
A typical rubber or plastic basketball does not exhibit the elastic properties of a steel ball or a highly-packed, high-density rubber ball; therefore, the netting remote from the basketball goal post does not always have to be a high as that provided by Keehn. It can be a low as five-and-one-half feet. In this preferred embodiment, the netting only needs to be as high as the basketball goal at only one point; i.e., immediately behind the goal post. Netting across the driveway only needs to be half that height or approximately five-and-one-half feet.
Sleeves are provided to connect sections of netting to vertical support poles. With sleeves, assembly of the basketball safety apparatus is eased considerably. The time necessary to assemble the basketball safety apparatus having sleeves as connectors is less than having fasteners as connectors.
With the exception of Keehn, none of the prior art addresses the issue of basketball safety in a residential setting. None of the prior art provides for variable height netting, netting which attaches to the basketball goal post, or provides for easy assembly by use of sleeves between sections of netting.